A MAN who had a drinking problem jumped in front of a moving train at New Cross railway station the day before his 60th birthday.

Unemployed electrician William Erskine, of Picardy Street, Belvedere, died from multiple injuries on January 9, Southwark Coroner's Court was told.

Pathologist Dr David Rouse told the inquest Mr Erskine's hand and lower limb had been amputated and he suffered various fractures and a brain haemorrhage. He would have died instantaneously.

He also noted he was nearly twice the legal drink driving limit.

Train driver Ian Vilday said: "I noticed Mr Erskine because he seemed to be staring at the train quite intently. He seemed to come across the windscreen. He seemed to land feet first"

He added: "It must have been quite a powerful jump because he nearly made it across the line."

Surveyor Richard Wyatt, who was working at the station at the time, said: "I thought he dived, like a swimming dive."

Police officers found cider bottles and evidence of heavy smoking strewn across his room when they visited his home on the day of his death.

Mr Erskine had a history of alcoholism going back to the late 1980s a GP's report revealed.

The jury returned a verdict that Mr Erskine had killed himself.

In a separate case, a 51-year-old man, of no fixed abode, was hit by a train, while seven times over the drink driving limit, near Lewisham station.

The man, believed to be Geoffrey Swift, is thought to have been sleeping rough when he was hit.

Detective Sergeant Keith Fletcher said Mr Erskine's partially dressed body "had been dragged a considerable distance" by the train.

Mr Swift was almost decapitated and had suffered multiple bruises and fractures when he was found on December 27.

Officers have not managed to locate any relatives. The jury recorded an open verdict.